Nokia 808 PureView

Nokia has confirmed that the 41-megapixel 808 PureView smartphone will see a release in the US, though without the subsidy that most cellphone buyers are used to. The Symbian-based cameraphone will be made available unlocked and SIM-free, priced at $699 and supporting AT&T's 3G network (or T-Mobile USA's 2G network). Update: Nokia now says the 808 PureView actually supports 3G on T-Mobile USA, not just 2G.

Nokia may be downsizing right now, but today the company is buying technology that it feels will help make the best cameras in smartphones going forward. Nokia will acquire developers, intellectual property, and technologies from digital imaging company Scalado. The deal is expected to go through during the third quarter of this year, although the terms of the sale weren’t disclosed.

Nokia has big plans for PureView, including thinner handsets and Windows Phone support, though there's more than just branding that's getting in the way of slimming the smartphone camera tech. We grabbed some hands-on playtime with the Nokia 808 PureView in Germany this week, at the headquarters of long-time photography partner Carl Zeiss, where we not only discovered just what the camera is capable of, but some of the decisions - technical, product and otherwise - behind the PureView concept. And make no mistake: if any one thing signifies Nokia's potential salvation in the mobile industry, PureView is it.

Nokia gave us no small surprise when it launched the Nokia 808 PureView and its new camera-phone technology. Promising a headline-grabbing 41-megapixel sensor, paired with image processing systems more akin to what you'd find in spy satellites than smartphones, it's the first fruit of a project five years in the making. Until now, though, all the sample images we've seen have been produced by Nokia's own hand, so we understandably jumped at the chance to join the PureView team at the headquarters of lens supplier and imaging specialist Carl Zeiss in Southern Germany to take some shots of our own. Read on for the full sample gallery - together with some comparison shots with the Nokia Lumia 900 - along with the full story as to why PureView is so special.

Nokia is talking high-megapixels and optical zoom alternatives again with its latest 808 PureView video, this time fully filmed on the 41-megapixel smartphone itself. The eight minute film details the development process of the innovative handset from its back-of-a-napkin inception five years ago to the Nokia Belle product hitting shelves later this month.

Jealous of your European friends who’ll have a chance to play with the Nokia 808 PureView? The 41-megapixel camera looks intriguing, but Nokia crushed some dreams when it announced that the phone wouldn’t be coming to the United States. In an interview with PCMag, Nokia’s US President, Chris Weber, said that while carriers won’t be offering the phone, an unlocked phone launch isn’t off the table.

We've all seen it - the police department/spy agency/starship captain needs to see greater detail when viewing a static image, so a leading actor yells "Enhance that!" and relies on Hollywood magic to instantly grant a crystal clear view of the perpetrator. You can check out a brilliant compilation of these movie and TV moments here. But with Nokia's 808 PureView smartphone and its mind-boggling 41-megapixel camera, all those cheesy scenes suddenly seem more plausible, as a Brazilian Nokia blog found out.

Nokia's 808 PureView has sashayed through the FCC, flaunting its sizable camera sensor and revealing functionality details thanks to the prematurely-published user manual. The size, of course, comes as little surprise, given Nokia's imaging team has managed to pump 41-megapixels into the Symbian smartphone.

Nokia has confirmed launch details for the 808 PureView, with the 41-megapixel phone set to go on sale in select markets from this month. India and Russia will be among the first to get the Symbian-powered PureView, announced back at Mobile World Congress in February, with other markets in the pipeline after that.

If this were any other Symbian phone, we would be looking at that large price tag with extreme skepticism, but the Nokia 808 PureView isn’t an ordinary Symbian phone. It’s packing Nokia’s PureView technology, bringing that famous 41 megapixel camera that stole the show at MWC 2012. We’ve seen some camera sample escape from China, and Nokia has put out a video comprised of photo and video footage from the 808 PureView.